CONTENTS
01 INTRODUCTION 02 PROBLEM 03 background research 04 proposal 05 process research 06 architectural brief 07 design process 08 DESIGN 09 CONTEXTUALISED DESIGN 10 conclusion
01
INTRODUCTION INSPIRATION: PARTICIPATORY ART
NON-participatory
participatory
Institution as curator, creator and distributor
Audience involved with the production and distribution
WHaT IS PARTICIPATORY ART? Non-participatory art can be construed as a product of the exclusive realm of the artist, or Creative Class (Florida 2002), and manifests in small artist enclaves insulated from the local context, or inaccessible art being displayed in galleries. Participatory art embraces the role of the audience as a co-creator and generator of creative ideas, hence leading to works that transcend the artist’s intention. The concept of Relational Aesthetics (Nicholas Bourriaud) in the field of participatory art also deems the very experience/interactions between the audience as art in itself.
MEANINGLESS AND TOKENISTIC?
The majority of the arts scene in Singapore is involved with government agencies such as National Arts Council. on a top-down basis, from the various aspects of art - Curation, Management, and Production. There is also a vested interest to use this as a tool to promote community spirit, as seen in the PassionArts initiative, This might hinder un-regulated and censored discussion on important issues such as national identity, and local culture. More importantly, the necessary dialogue and participation from citizens from all walks of life is missing, as the current state limits participation in this discussion.
introduction
01
INTRODUCTION IMPORTANCE OF IDENTITY
IDENTITY CRISIS? The mass protests held at Hong Lim Park in response to the government’s Population White Paper Plan which aimed to increase the proportion of non-residents in Singapore highlighted and kindled discussion about Singapore’s lower sense of cultural assurance as a country. The number of Singaporeans living overseas have also increased over the years, illustrating that the strong sense of rooted-ness which comes from a strong co-created identity is missing.
introduction
01
INTRODUCTION LOCAL CASE STUDIES
GILLMAN BARRACKS Isolated Artist Enclave Houses 13 galleries, visual arts institutions and organisations Playeum and Art Outreach, as well as NTU Center of Contemporary Art Singapore, a research facility. Not in close connection to any other functions such as residential or commercial. Low footfall and sales, tiny local collector base, poor amenities, 5/17 galleries decided to leave in 2016, with another 2 leaving in 2016. Inaccessibility one of the key reasons toward the low visitorship, and the audience for art is reserved for an exclusive group of people involved or aware of the arts and culture scene.
THE SUBSTATION Lacks Reach to General Public, Limited Participation Founded in September 1990 by theatre director and writer Kuo Pao Kun. It was formerly a power substation constructed in 1926, hence the name. renovated in June 1990 and opened on 16 September 1990, funded by then Ministry of Community Development (MCD). While it has historically been a platform for the uncensored, unregulated arts, the reach of its influence is limited to its location as well as setting. Located in the Civic District, which is set aside as an arts and cultural hub, the people who frequent the place are those already in the loop with the arts scene. In addition, the co-creation aspect of participatory art is limited to small workshops, while the focus is on artist residency programmes.
INTRODUCTION
02
problem MODELS OF CURRENT PARTICIPATION
MEANINGFUL BUT INACCESSIBLE Participatory art that tackles real community issues/ give the power of co-creation to the visitors held within exclusive/less accessible venues, resulting in lower reach and isolated in its social significance as it is not part of everyday life. Examples: Gilman Barracks, The Substation
ACCESSIBLE BUT SYMBOLIC Symbolic participatory art in the form of top-down programmes within an everyday community setting to engage in the production of certain events/artefacts that have superficial social meaning and significance, no real dialogue occurs as participation is controlled
accessible and meaningful.
The proposed model of Participatory Art Increased accessibility for community to participate in the co-creation of art, through the setting of art within a space is part of and integral to everyday life. The art produced is not merely product-based, but the participation becomes the art as well. The outcomes of the participatory art has social significance and is visually and functionally accessible. This is taken in relation to Relational Aesthetics, where the social interactions within the space also become part of the art.
Examples: PassionArts Programme
problem
03
background research SUCCESSFUL CASE STUDIES: PARTICIPATORY ART
MEASURING THE UNIVERSE ROMAN ONDAK The Imprint of the Visitor Viewers play a vital role in the creation of Measuring the Universe (2007), by Slovakian artist Roman Ondák (b. 1966). Over the course of the exhibition, attendants mark Museum visitors’ heights, first names, and date of the measurement on the gallery walls. Beginning as an empty white space, over time the gallery gradually accumulates the traces of thousands of people. This initially empty exhibition therefore becomes an empty canvas for the various visitors, who leave behind their mark on the exhibition yet learning more about the larger community the stronger bands correspond to the average height, and so on.
BEFORE I DIe CANDY CHANG The Expression of Community Before I die is a participatory art project that invites people to contemplate death, reflect on life, and share their personal aspirations in public. After losing someone she loved, Chang channeled her grief and depression into this project on an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood to restore perspective and find consolation with her neighbors. She covered the crumbling house with chalkboard paint and stenciled it with the prompt, “Before I die I want to _____.” The wall quickly filled up with responses, from the poetic to the profound. This is an example of a participatory art that is not complete and constantly in creation, providing a platform for personal expression and visualise the hopes of the community.
background research
03
background research SUCCESSFUL CASE STUDIES: PARTICIPATORY ART
EVENt of a thread ann hamilton
UNTITLED (FREE) RIRKRIT TIRAVANIJA
The Art of the Social Event
The Art of the Social Event
The work consisted of a massive white silk curtain suspended in the centre of the hall and surrounded by a field of swings hung from a system of ropes and pulleys. The artist invited viewers to swing on the many swings, and as they did the white fabric, connected to the swings through the rope system, shifted and reflected the movement of the participants. Because participants were continuously swinging, the curtain remained in constant flux, reacting solely to the pull of the bodies interacting with the environment in a collective feat.
In 1992, Rirkrit Tiravanija created an exhibition entitled Untitled (Free) at 303 Gallery in New York. This landmark piece, in which the artist converted a gallery into a kitchen where he served rice and Thai curry for free, is a prime example of Relational Aesthetics.
With reference to Relational Aesthetics, the art visualises the social interactions that result in the fabric changing its shape. As such. the audience become active subjects and depending on different levels of participation, still contributed to the art in their own way, either walking, lying or sitting, or observing others.
Therefore this example shows how participatory art may not involve a particular artefact, but rather the stimulation of social interaction, which becomes the art.
“The work is a platform for people to interact with the work itself but also with each other. It is about the, so you actually are not really looking at something but you are within it, you are part of it. The distance between the artist, the art, and the audience gets a bit blurred�. (Rirkrit Tiravanija)
background research
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04
background research
proposal
situating art in everyday.
PRINCIPLES OF PARTICIPATION The Shared Experience
Hawker Food Centers
Participants in the project are able to imprint part of themselves (thoughts, actions) onto a collective picture which showcases the community as a whole.
In Singapore, food centers are where the strong hawker heritage and local culture is displayed. To make the constituents of the participatory art relevant, the pertinent issue of food waste is addressed.
Examples: Measuring the Universe, Before I Die
As these food centers are places where the community naturally congregates, the participatory aspect of the shared experience and social event of eating can be tapped on for this project.
The Social Event The art aspect becomes the actual participation in the social interactions, triggered by the installation that allows for these interactions to be tangibly represented and visualised. Examples: The event of a thread, Untitled (Free)
+ background research
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proposal SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE
healthy lifestyle
FOOD WASTE
Global studies have shown that 46% of fruits and vegetables never make it from farm to fork.
Only 13% of all food waste in Singapore is recycled. Transportation of food takes up energy and increases CO2 emissions. Cutting food waste by 15% = taking 86,000 cars off the road
Hawker Centers produce 2-3 tons of food waste per day, not including excess food from hotels, restaurants, bakeries and food industries
food waste
culinary skills and heritage
12% of food losses occur during the harvesting process
77% of Singaporeans regularly waste food at home, due to overstocking and overcooking
Cosmetic filtering done in supermarkets, wholesale markets, estimated to be 30,000 kg of vegetables and fruits a day
proposal
04
proposal
NEW MARKET TYPOLOGY
HOW TO PARTICIPATE? Collection of “ugly� food, from supermarkets, leftover food from food retailers, excess unconsumed food stocks from homes
EAT
CREATE
SPACE The storage, sorting and processing of unwanted food and food waste, co-creating new forms of products and recipes through learning and experimentation
The new market will allow visitors to select uncooked ingredients to incorporate into their dishes which they will see the hawker prepare By hand selecting ingredients and portions, food wastage is decreased and culinary awareness increased
The new market collects food waste from the stalls within, and from donated food waste from households and companies Visitors may participate in various workshops that use these collected wastes to create new products, or learn cooking skills from hawkers, or produce new recipes
The architecture scale will allow for the visitor to affect the space either through movable furniture or modular spatial units. The result is that the actions of the visitor through the center possibly result in a different layout and leave an imprint on the architectural organisation
A new kind of retail, with new products made from repurposed food waste A farm fertilised with composted fertiliser and grown from food scraps/seeds
proposal
A new consumption process where the waste produced is fed back into the closed cycle
05
process research DEFINING TYPES OF FOOD WASTE
FRUITS
Seeds Rinds/Peels Cosmetic Defects Overripe/Expired Fruit
MEAT AND FISH
Bones Excess Fat Cosmetic Defects Fish Heads/Collars Unpopular Meat Cuts
VEGETABLES Stems/Leaves Vegetable Tops Cosmetic Defects Peels
Leftover Rice Leftover Noodles
Stale Bread Residual Crust Bread Heels Unsold Buns
DAIRY
Eggshells Expiring/Sour Milk
DRINKS
Soyabean Pulp (Okara) Sugarcane Fibre (Bagasse) Teabags Coffee Grounds
CONDIMENTS
Sauces Leftover Herbs/Spices
process research
DRIED FOOD
BAKERY
05
process research
foodwaste to energy two different types of recycling
PROPOSED (inTEGRATED SYSTEM)
process resesarch
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ARchitectural brief FUNCTIONS DETERMINED FROM PROCESS
ACTORS
KITCHENS
Open-concept, accessible
The kitchen serves as a space for hawkers to teach their culinary skills as well as a production area for the social enterprise. The community is free to use it for their own events as well, accessed through a booking system.
Teach Culinary Skill/ Recipe
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE Social Boon
The social enterprise serves as a foodbank which collects unwanted food waste either from leftover banquets from hotels/companies, or excess food from households and redistributes them to the low-income.
WORKSHOPS
Experimentation and Production
The workshop is a space that allows for the community to undertake creative projects that reuse food waste, as well as a platform of engaging the nearby residents.
SHOPS/DISPLAY Shared Experience
Displays the community’s creations in the workshop, or the created food waste products. For community creation, possible a pay-as-you-feel system.
Benefits
Hawkers receive a subsidy for their rental cost in exchange of conducting culinary workshops. In addition, ingredients can be sourced from the garden
participatory food center
sense of community Benefits social awareness Co-creation of food waste creative thinking products, learn creative thinking and local heritage
Volunteer/Social Change
Possible Employment
Recycle
Houses the regrowing of fruit and vegetable scraps, as well as the composters and heavy machinery to produce fertiliser from food waste
Benefits
Cheaper food from social enterprise, ability to learn creative skills through workshops
architectural brief
FARM
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architectural brief DESIGN PRINCIPLES
DESIGN EXAMPLES
The architectural design principles were derived from the key elements extracted from participatory art examples.
participatory art: 2 elements
FLEXIBLE SPACES
A SHARED EXPERIENCE
Where participants are able in some manner or form influence the spatial layout and utilisation of the spaces in more ways than one
Particular Studio by Particular Architects
MINIMAL ARCHITECTURE PRESENCE
To allow for the social events and interactions taking place to take the forefront of the building aesthetic
SOCIAL EVENT
TT by Ron Gilad
architectural brief
MUJI Steel Shelving
07
DESIGN PROCESS EXPLORATION OF SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS SINGLE CORE
According to the practical needs and mobility of each function, with waste collection being the most rigid
SEPARATE CORES
Facilitate the overlapping of production and processing, as well as consumption. The previous model was too rigid to allow for flexibility in the spread of consumption areas from the production
HIERARCHY OF CORES
Express the waste collection as the main core, which functions as a neighborhood indicator of the amount of waste produced, consumption and processing space are fluid
design process
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DESIGN PROCESS EXPLORATION OF SYSTEMS
FOR MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY
Despite the benefits of the grid-based system and core-based system, eventually a modular system was decided upon.
GRID BASED SYSTEM
Open-plan offices - the implementation of movable walls to change spatial layout
HUB by Hyunjoo Architects
CORE BASED SYSTEM
More organic, open system which involves the flexible use of the spaces suggested by integral structural systems
Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito
MODULAR INFILL SYSTEM
Allows for maximum freedom of movement as well as an intimate scale of participation due to the visitor being able to affect and shift these modules. design process
The language used is also that of an infill language, which allows participation to be visualised and maximised.
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DESIGN PROCESS CASE STUDIES
PARTI SECTION AND PLAN Waste as Building Material Bricks are grown from a microscopic, fibrous fungus called mycelium that binds itself to its food source to create a strong resilient source.
Hy-Fi Organic Brick Tower
These bricks are able to be stacked to a height of 40 ft, and can resist wind gusts of over 65 mph. Waste Recycling as Spectacle Intended to incorporate a series of visitor facilities, that includes a looping walkway that wraps around the building, into a working waste to energy facility.
ORGANISATIONAL PRINCIPLE
In line with the concept of a close-loop system as aforementioned, the functions are laid out to facilitate the flow of farm to fork, as well as waste to production. There is a concerted intention to allow for the production functions to spill out to the periphery to engage the community easily. In addition, the provision of a main thoroughfare to allow for the community to flow through the spaces
Therefore achieves educational objective in allowing public to access these usually inaccessible sites. Shenzhen Waste to Energy Plant
Building as Container Composed of four towers which act as “containers� that illustrate the consumption patterns of the visitors.
PUBLIC SEMI-PUBLIC ACTIVITIES
MAIN THOROUGHFARE
design process
Swiss Pavilion Milan Expo 2015
Visitors can take any product they want for free, but they cause the floor of each tower to lower progressively, effectively raising awareness of limitation of resources.
SEMI-PUBLIC ACTIVITIES
07
DESIGN PROCESS CONCEPTUAL LIBRARY
BOOK DROP/ COLLECTION BOOK STORAGE AND ORGANISATION BORROWING LIBRARIANS PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE LECTURE ROOMS/THEATRE RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING
CASE STUDIES
FOOD WASTE COLLECTION POINT FOOD WASTE STORAGE AND SORTING UPCYCLING HAWKERS/TRADITION COMMUNITY PRODUCTION KITCHEN AS EDUCATION
Musashino Library by Sou Fujimoto
CO-CREATION AND CREATIVITY
Book Mountain by MVRDV
Both projects use the storage and handling of books to dictate both the circulation as well as the aesthetic. The action of borrowing and interacting with the books is highly visible and seen clearly from all angles.
design process
Celebration of Books/Food Waste
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DESIGN MODULAR RELATIONSHIPS
Since the choice has been made to go with a modular system, the next step was to explore the relationships between them. Namely there are two kinds, the fixed and the movable module, construed figuratively as two parts of a jigsaw.
design
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DESIGN MODULE DESIGN
KITCHENS
WORKSHOP
The waste produced by the hawker is separated into two kinds of food waste: precooked food waste, as well as post-cooked food waste which is less usable for recycling and reuse. These wastes will be sent to the composter to create fertiliser for the farm.
Waste collected is brought to the sorting facility where it is further sorted into usable waste such as fruit peel. These materials in turn are used in the converter workshops and kitchens, where new recipes and products are created.
Open-concept, accessible
ECO-BRICK INFILL
Possibility to fill up the walls with eco-bricks that are made of plastic bottles stuffed with unrecyclable waste. This has already been done in other countries and projects.
Experimentation and Production
METAL MESH PANELS
Maximises visual porosity, even when closed. This allows for the community to be more engaged with the workshops through passive observation.
design
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DESIGN MODULE DESIGN
FARM
COMMUNITY
Houses the regrowing of fruit and vegetable scraps, as well as the composters and heavy machinery to produce fertiliser from food waste
Allows for DIY workshops to be held for the community in repurposing food waste. In addition the movable units are movable stalls that allow for impromptu flea markets.
Recycle
Workshop Space
MUSHROOM BRICK INFILL
Using a chemical organic agent called mycelium, it is possible to create and grow bricks which are then decorated by the community to become part of the facade.
design
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DESIGN MODULE DESIGN
SHOPS/DISPLAY
FOODBANK
Displays the community’s creations in the workshop, or the created food waste products. It also functions as a tool shop for the people who need them for their creations. The movable units within spill out as display shelves. The top volume also expresses the compartments, which shift according to the needs of the shop.
The social enterprise serves as a foodbank which collects unwanted food waste either from leftover banquets from hotels/companies, or excess food from households and redistributes them to the low-income. There is also a small meeting room and office in the top volume, which facilitates the running of the foodbank.
Shared Experience
PERFORATED PANELS INFILL
Perforations allow for tool walls to be easily created, or shelves to be created as required by the shop. The modularity also allows for people to easily realign the shelves if necessary.
Social Boon
FOOD BANK BOX ADOPTION
As a practice by the Foodbank Singapore group, they allow for people to bring home food bank boxes and fill them up as required, bringing them back to the warehouse when they are full.
design
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DESIGN PROTOTYPICAL SECTIONS
These sections are examples of how to configure and arrange the modules. Each section has a different emphasis and as a result have differing roof profiles.
SECTION KITCHEN The visitors initial approach is the market atmosphere on the ground floor, where visitors are able to pick up products and ingredients to bring up to the hawkers to add to their food, adding to the participatory aspect/experience of the building. The food waste is collected and sorted to these workshops at the periphery which allow for the community to freely enter and participate as well.
SECTION farm The farm necessitates the composter to be hidden below, as it is uninviting and heavy. Processes such as creating fertiliser and regrowing vegetables from leftover food waste occur here. For example, the top of a carrot can be immersed in water to regrow new shoots that are again harvested for use in the kitchens within.
design
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DESIGN PROTOTYPICAL SECTIONS
SECTION community The community section houses the different community workshop spaces, which are meant to house workshops such as painting with vegetable paints, creating DIY and healthcare products from food waste such as carrot oil. There is a large plaza open area, as well as a stage to house community events. The movable modules and stalls allow for different configurations of space as well as the possibility to hold residents flea markets and residents’ exhibitions etc.
SECTION INDUSTRY For the section of industry, this involves processes such as the creating of coffee ground fabrics, or bread beer. These heavier operations necessitate larger space, but yet the processes are freely open to the public to view from the top viewing deck, where visitors enter from stairs to look down into the workings of the larger scale operations, and to view the finished products within those fixed module shops.
design
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DESIGN PROTOTYPICAL SECTIONS
SECTION FOODBANK For the foodbank section, there is an office located above for the daily operations of the warehouse as well as a reception area that collects both expiring food from daily consumers as well as bigger scale operations. Abutting the foodbank warehouse is also a soup kitchen which is run by volunteers, allowing low-income people to engage as well. The location also allows the kitchen seating to spill out to the surrounding.
SECTION repair Goes beyond food waste to furniture and bicycle waste. There is an area for the residents to donate their unwanted waste, where it is collected by people looking for repairs, going through the tool shops to collect the necessary items, and then breaking down into smaller usable parts.
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contextualised design
SITE
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
REDHILL MARKET AND FOOD CENTER Site was selected because of the scale of the market that was to be taken over. In addition, there was potential to respond toward the site, where one end faced more toward the HDB residences, as opposed to a side of the building facing the road. The central passageway that allows fr=or pedestrian flow from one side to the other is preserved as the design itself is porous and allows free access on either side of the market. All in all, the proposed design has a total of 52 hawker stalls in addition to community kitchens, workshops and farm area.
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CONTEXTUALISED DESIGN UPPER FLOOR PLAN
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conclusion
can a food market be the new venue for creating participatory art?
CONCLUSION
end
conclusion
I believe this new market typology is able to promote co-creation and participation through 3 aspects – the everyday aspect of eating, the occasional aspect of creating new products, as well as the impacting of architectural space through the moving of modules. It is not symbolic but anchored in a real issue of food waste. Accessible and meaningful creation of new food waste products becomes the participatory art, yet the new social interactions and relations between residents, hawkers, and the low-income groups come to the forefront, becoming part of the arthestic.